A Conversation with Healthcare Journalist and Podcaster Brenda Gazzar
We’re excited to share this conversation between EarBuds founder, Arielle Nissenblatt, and healthcare journalist and host of the podcast Code WACK!, Brenda Gazzar. Arielle and Brenda actually met on an airplane going to (or from — we can’t remember) Los Angeles.
Arielle introduced herself because she thought Brenda looked like a podcaster she’d met at a networking event in Los Angeles. Turns out — they’d never met, but that Brenda was a podcaster. What a strange, small world.
Healthcare is a constant, stressful conversation in the U.S. Whether you have access to it, don’t have access to it, are between providers, or are having issues finding a doctor. It always seems like everyone’s got a healthcare industry complaint. That’s what the Code WACK! team is addressing through their podcast. In this conversation, Brenda tells us what inspired the show, how she got her start in journalism, and the goals for the podcast.
A Conversation with Brenda Gazzar, Host of Code WACK!
1. How did you get your start as a journalist?
While studying abroad in Israel, a small group of friends and I pretended to be journalists so we could get into a West Bank jail that had been transferred from Israeli forces to the Palestinian National Authority. I was struck by how the prisoners were so eager to tell us their stories. It planted a seed of desire in me. I later studied Communications and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. I also studied and worked in Cairo for six months after grad school to better understand my Egyptian-Jewish family and have spent the rest of my journalism career working between California and the Middle East.
2. What drew you to healthcare journalism?
I've always been drawn to the issues of health, wellness, and how we heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My father worked as a pharmacist and my first journalism job in America was working as a health reporter in a small rural town in Northern California. Today, I am keenly aware of how equity issues play out so starkly in our broken healthcare system and the need to tell these stories to inspire change.
3. How do you source your podcast's guests? What goes into those decisions?
I work with my wonderful Code WACK! co-producer Georgia Brewer to find patients, experts, and health reform advocates who have powerful stories to tell about our broken healthcare system. We have reached out to people we know or that our friends and colleagues know, people we've read about in the media or on social media, and people who contact us or are referred to us. We then vet them to make sure their story is compelling and fits in with our podcast's theme.
4. What are your long and short-term goals for the podcast, Code WACK!?
Short-term goals: Tell powerful stories that wake America up to how our dysfunctional healthcare system is needlessly bankrupting us and, in some cases, even killing us.
Long-term goals: Help save trillions of dollars and thousands of lives each year by winning a universal healthcare system, like Medicare for All, in California and in America.
5. Tell us about an interview you've recorded that really shifted your perspective on a topic.
Hearing New York resident Scott Desnoyers tell us the story of his 29-year-old son, Danny, who died by suicide after he couldn't get the mental health medication he desperately needed because he had missed a $20 health insurance premium payment he didn't know he had. That story drove home how vulnerable we all are if we suddenly change jobs or health coverage and can't pay for the medicines or treatments that can save our lives.
6. Who would be a dream guest for the show and why?
I would love to interview actor/director Kiefer Sutherland since I'm a fan and his grandfather Tommy Douglas is considered the grandfather of Medicare and single-payer health care in Canada. I would ask Kiefer about his new movie The Contractor, his music, and of course, his thoughts on winning single-payer in America!
7. What's next for you in the world of podcasting and/or content creation? Is anything big on the horizon?
I really enjoy creating NPR-style podcasts vs. the straight interview format but they are rather time-consuming so we don't do too many of those. I would love to help the nonprofit I contract with (The California OneCare Education Fund) either do a series of podcasts or make a video highlighting the many faces of the uninsured and underinsured in America.
8. Any shoutouts or plugs?
Yes! A huge shoutout to all of our amazing Code WACK! guests who bravely share their personal stories and their knowledge. They speak out against our callous and ineffective healthcare system so that we can live in a more equitable and just society.
9. Where can we find you on social media?
You can find me, Brenda Gazzar, on Twitter and Insta at @bgazzar and you can find our podcast Code WACK! at @codewack on Twitter and @codewackpodcast on Insta. I would love to hear your personal healthcare story and what you think of our podcast! Thanks for reading and stay healthy!
Thank you to Brenda and Code WACK! for creating this podcast! Listen here.
